Q. Should political parties be allowed to receive donations from each of the following?
| Should be allowed | Should not be allowed | Don’t know | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | ||
| Property developers | 16% | 69% | 15% | 12% | 25% | 13% | 13% | |
| Foreign companies | 12% | 74% | 13% | 9% | 17% | 10% | 13% | |
| Australian companies | 32% | 51% | 17% | 29% | 41% | 23% | 36% | |
| Mining companies | 19% | 68% | 14% | 15% | 28% | 12% | 18% | |
| Energy companies | 18% | 67% | 15% | 13% | 28% | 14% | 16% | |
| Casinos | 14% | 71% | 15% | 10% | 21% | 11% | 16% | |
| Unions | 20% | 64% | 15% | 25% | 18% | 19% | 22% | |
| Professional associations | 29% | 52% | 18% | 28% | 38% | 23% | 31% | |
| Individual Australian voters | 50% | 35% | 15% | 48% | 57% | 50% | 54% |
A majority of respondents were opposed to all forms of donations to political parties except for donations from individual Australian voters (50% should be allowed).
They were most strongly opposed to donations from foreign companies (74%), casinos (71%), property developers (69%), mining companies (68%) and energy companies (67%).
Liberal/National voters were more likely than Labor voters to think donations from different groups should be allowed (with the exception of unions).
Q. Do you approve or disapprove of the proposal to change the Racial Discrimination Act so that it is no longer unlawful to “offend or insult” someone because of their race or ethnicity? It will still be unlawful to “humiliate or intimidate” someone because of their race or ethnicity.
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | ||
| Total approve | 45% | 39% | 56% | 29% | 48% | |
| Total disapprove | 35% | 42% | 27% | 60% | 32% | |
| Strongly approve | 16% | 13% | 19% | 6% | 21% | |
| Approve | 29% | 26% | 37% | 23% | 27% | |
| Disapprove | 18% | 21% | 15% | 23% | 19% | |
| Strongly disapprove | 17% | 21% | 12% | 37% | 13% | |
| Don’t know | 21% | 18% | 17% | 11% | 19% |
45% approve of changing the Racial Discrimination Act so that it is no longer unlawful to “offend or insult” someone because of their race or ethnicity and 35% disapprove. 56% of Liberal/National voters approve of changing the Act while 60% of Greens voters disapproved. Labor voters were split 39% approve/42% disapprove.
Q. For each of the following forms of intolerance, please indicate to what extent you think it is a problem in Australia.
| Total large/ moderate | A large problem | Moderate problem | Small
problem |
Not a problem at all | Don’t know | Sep 12
Total large/ moderate |
Jun 13
Total large/ moderate |
Feb 14
Total large/ moderate |
Aug 15
Total large/ moderate |
|||
| Racism against people from other countries | 62% | 25% | 37% | 27% | 7% | 5% | 71% | 69% | 64% | 60% | ||
| Racism against indigenous Australians | 58% | 25% | 33% | 28% | 8% | 5% | 54% | |||||
| Sexism | 57% | 21% | 36% | 30% | 8% | 5% | 45% | 52% | 51% | 47% | ||
| Religious intolerance | 57% | 24% | 34% | 27% | 9% | 5% | 65% | 54% | 51% | 53% | ||
| Homophobia | 53% | 20% | 33% | 32% | 10% | 5% | 50% | 51% | 47% | 47% | ||
| Ageism | 49% | 17% | 32% | 30% | 14% | 8% | 44% | 46% | 49% | 48% |
57% think that sexism is a major/moderate problem in Australia – up 10% since August last year – and 53% think homophobia is a major/moderate problem in Australia (up 6%).
62% (up 2%) think that racism against people from other countries is a major/moderate problem in Australia – and 58% (up 4%) think racism against indigenous Australians is a major/moderate problem.
Q. Thinking about the issue of illegal drugs in Australia, please indicate which position is closer to your view:
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | ||
| We should decriminalise all illegal drugs (including production and trafficking within Australia) to reduce the unregulated black market trade in these substances. | 11% | 12% | 11% | 14% | 7% | |
| We should decriminalise small scale illegal drug use and possession, but maintain criminal prohibitions on production and trafficking. | 31% | 37% | 24% | 48% | 33% | |
| We should prohibit all activities related to illegal drugs in Australia, including production, trafficking, large and small-scale production and use. | 48% | 45% | 55% | 26% | 51% | |
| None of the above | 11% | 7% | 10% | 12% | 9% |
42% think that all or some drug use should be decriminalised and 48% think that all drug activities should be prohibited.
62% of Greens voters and 49% of Labor voters think at least some use of illegal drugs should be decriminalised. 46% of those aged under 35 and 47% of those with university education think that all or some drug use should be decriminalised
Q. Would you support decriminalisation of any of the following illegal drugs in Australia:
| Yes | No | Don’t know | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | ||
| Cannabis | 47% | 39% | 13% | 52% | 43% | 63% | 49% | |
| Ecstasy | 12% | 81% | 7% | 12% | 11% | 16% | 14% | |
| Amphetamines (such as speed or ice) | 10% | 83% | 7% | 10% | 8% | 15% | 10% | |
| Cocaine | 12% | 82% | 6% | 10% | 12% | 16% | 12% | |
| Heroin | 11% | 82% | 7% | 11% | 10% | 14% | 10% |
There was strong opposition (over 80%) to decriminalising all drugs except cannabis.
47% thought that cannabis should be decriminalised. Those most in favour of decriminalising cannabis were Greens voters (63%), Labor voters (52%), and aged 18-24 (53%).
Q. If a Federal Election was held today to which party will you probably give your first preference vote? If not sure, which party are you currently leaning toward? If don’t know – Well which party are you currently leaning to?
| Total | Last week
30/8/16 |
2 weeks ago
23/8/16 |
4 weeks ago
9/8/16 |
Election 2 Jul 16 | |||
| Liberal | 36% | 37% | 36% | 37% | |||
| National | 3% | 3% | 3% | 2% | |||
| Total Liberal/National | 39% | 40% | 39% | 40% | 42.0% | ||
| Labor | 37% | 37% | 36% | 37% | 34.7% | ||
| Greens | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10% | 10.2% | ||
| Nick Xenophon Team | 3% | 4% | 4% | 4% | |||
| Pauline Hanson’s One Nation | 5% | ||||||
| Other/Independent | 6% | 10% | 12% | 10% | 13.1% | ||
| 2 party preferred | |||||||
| Liberal National | 48% | 49% | 49% | 48% | 50.4% | ||
| Labor | 52% | 51% | 51% | 52% | 49.6% |
Q. Do you expect the Coalition Government will run its full term until 2019 when the next Federal election is due or do you think there will be an early election?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | ||
| Will run full term | 35% | 29% | 50% | 28% | 21% | |
| Will be an early election | 38% | 52% | 26% | 43% | 49% | |
| Don’t know | 27% | 19% | 24% | 30% | 29% |
35% think that the Coalition Government will run its full term and 38% think there will be an early election.
50% of Liberal/National voters think the Government will run its full term but 52% of Labor voters and 43% of Greens voters think there will be an early election.
Q. Do you expect Malcolm Turnbull’s Government will achieve more or less for the nation than the previous Government?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | ||
| Will achieve more | 18% | 10% | 35% | 4% | 14% | |
| Will achieve less | 30% | 47% | 17% | 37% | 37% | |
| No difference | 37% | 36% | 37% | 46% | 37% | |
| Don’t know | 14% | 7% | 12% | 14% | 12% |
Only 18% think Malcolm Turnbull’s Government will achieve more for the nation than the previous Government and 30% think they will achieve less.
35% of Liberal/National voters think they will achieve more and 46% of Greens voters think there will be no difference.